Fish-fragrant aubergines (Yu xiang qie zi) from Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (page 210) by Fuchsia Dunlop

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Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Agaillard on April 07, 2026

    I made for my parents so they could taste Chinese cooking, so I just put one tablespoon of chilli bean paste and nothing else fiery. That was palatable even to their elderly palates. This version is much more fiery than that of the Sichuan book by the way, but I found the instructions clearer, which in the end we didn't follow and used the air fryer.

  • alinutzamica on July 08, 2025

    Looking at the ingredients, I didn't thinks this dish will be that great, but I was wrong. It's very good! The eggplants are silky and the sauce is delicious. I used Japanese aubergines and I shallow fried them in a few batches, which smoked my kitchen badly. This is the only reason why I wouldn't make the recipe again.The shallow frying works well but the smoke is bad. I didn't add that much salt to the aubergines initially and I'm glad I didn't as the sauce is salty enough. The chilli bean paste is the key ingredient in this recipe.

  • metacritic on September 30, 2021

    I made 4 FD recipes, all of them terrific. This was the best of them by a good deal. The combination of frying eggplant to both soften it and give it remarkable depth of flavor + braising it in broth and chili black bean sauce spiked with garlic, ginger, and vinegar is irresistible. One of her truly great recipes. (Apologies for the double posting but I used this book, not Sichuan Cookery)

  • TrishaCP on August 31, 2021

    I love this recipe. I used the alternative roasting method to good result.

  • corylavell on May 10, 2021

    I make this whenever there are enough aubergines around. I confess I bake the aubergines rather than deep frying them - it just makes more sense for me at home and I like that I can do that a bit hands off and in advance (a must if you have small child bedtime to manage!). It’s a very beautiful dish, and I totally get why the author regards it as one of her very favourite dishes. Highly recommended.

  • annettle on February 17, 2021

    Best eggplant I've ever had, the sweet and spicy sauce is delectable. I did shallow fry the batons (in 2 Tbsp of oil for a 2/3 scaled recipe with 400g of eggplant, and no additional oil added to the pan afterwards) and mine did not turn out greasy - or dry! - so perhaps try that if the stated method is too oily for you. I didn't add pork mince either, and used a vegetable stock so it was actually vegan in the end.

  • KarinaFrancis on September 13, 2020

    Absolutely delicious! I added pork mince as suggested in the head notes but enjoy it just as much without pork, the eggplant and sauce are the stars. This is almost identical to the recipe in Sichuan cookery.

  • Ro_ on September 29, 2019

    This is quite simply one of my all-time favourite recipes. In the top 10 things I'd want to eat as a last meal, and I'm not even vegetarian. Silky, melt-in-your-mouth aubergine with a perfectly balanced sweet-spicy-salty-sour sauce. It's quite rich and oily, so a small portion + plain white rice is a perfect meal.

  • Lu1950s on April 20, 2018

    This did NOT work for us. I roasted the eggplant according to her alternative directions. The eggplant skin was tough and kept separating from the flesh. The flesh was mushy (maybe we just don't like eggplant...I'm not sure). I won't make this again.

  • Bloominanglophile on November 13, 2016

    This is so delicious that I would be happy with this and a scoop of rice for a meal. My eggplant avoiding husband and daughter both enjoyed it, also!

  • marry_bellows on July 27, 2014

    Simple and delicious... even though a bit greasy.

  • PinchOfSalt on January 30, 2013

    Made this vegetarian by using water instead of chicken broth. Yum! There's a minimum of preparation needed for this recipe, especially if you have jars of chopped ginger and garlic in the fridge. A great choice for a weeknight meal.

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